Contributed by: CaptainCrunchCaptainCrunch(others by this writer | submit your own)Published on May 30th 2003Originally the All-American Rejects show was scheduled
for the Shelter in Detroit. I was excited to see a band that I thought had a
good amount of talent in such a small venue. A local radio station picked up
the show and began promoting it and moved it upstairs to Saint Andrew's Hal.

Originally the All-American Rejects show was scheduled
for the Shelter in Detroit. I was excited to see a band that I thought had a
good amount of talent in such a small venue. A local radio station picked up
the show and began promoting it and moved it upstairs to Saint Andrew's Hall,
which is about 5 times bigger. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed,
but I kept my tickets and checked it out anyways. I guess that was a mistake.

First up was a band called
Limbeck. After
they kicked into their first song, I was thinking that this was going to be a
good night for music. I enjoyed their set, it was
no-nonsense pop-rock that didn't rely on gimmicks or whining to get the point
across. It was a little too poopy to be
considered good rock and roll, slightly reminiscent of music that would play
on a sitcom or something of the sort. Nevertheless, I thought they were a
decent opener and set the stage well for the evening, or so I thought.

Any momentum that the night had musically by
Limbeck's solid set was shot to hell by what would
take place for the remainder of the evening. Wakefield took the stage and
started into a pop-punk blitz that eventually left me nauseous. Supposedly,
their drummer was in Good Charlotte at one time, and it showed. This band
smelled like any of those other MTV pop-punk bands, Simple Plan, NFG, etc.
Not what I was hoping for. With that being said, Wakefield was very good at
what they do. They took a quiet, sullen crowd, and had the majority of them
into the music by the end of the 3rd song. This energy continued
throughout their set, and most of the crowd ate it up, but wasn't my thing at
all. Needless to say, if you are a fan of MTV-style manufactured pop-punk,
you would probably enjoy Wakefield. As they left the stage I was hoping that
AAR could restore my evening with a good set.

That didn't even come close to happening. AAR took the
stage and right away I knew it was going to be awful. Just the way they
carried themselves throughout the set said "rockstar",
which they aren't, considering 4 months ago nobody had heard of them. Tyson's
vocals were below sub-par, he didn't necessarily sound off-key, but just
really not in sync with the music. They basically played every song off of
their self titled album, and nothing more, which left for an extremely short
set. I think they went off after 40 minutes and played a 2 song encore, which
left the length of the show at about 45 minutes. If they had been playing
well, it would have been 45 good minutes of music, but since they butchered
every song that they played, I was kind of happy that they played such a short
set.

One thing that especially bothered me was the fact that
they pump in the samples (bells, ect)
through the speakers, instead of playing them, which I found to be cheesy. I
found out afterward that they have never really done that, but I was expecting
more from the band that seemed to be very talented. I would have rather they
not use the samples, a la Jimmy Eat World. To me, that shows some skill if
you can make your songs sound good live without the samples from the album.

I would have to say that this was one of the worst
concerts that I have ever been to, definitely in the top 5. If it wasn't for
Limbeck's above-average set, I probably would have
wanted to jump out in front of traffic after the show.

If anyone has been a fan of the All-American Rejects
since before they gained their mainstream popularity, you probably will be
disappointed with seeing them live now. I was and so was everyone else that I
talked to who has been a fan since their Doghouse days. It seems like they
have let their commercial success go to their heads. What a sad waste of
potential.

"It was a little too poopy to be considered good rock and roll, slightly reminiscent of music that would play on a sitcom or something of the sort. "

Anonymous (June 2, 2003)

Complaining about Wakefield being mtv style punk garbage...hello, your at a goddamn All American Rejects show. Yeah, I'm sure they were just a wonderful band "before they got big" I know they were a small band at one point, but damn, shit has to come from somewhere, and I have a hard time swallowing that they were any better back then. How come these bands always have 80s references in their songs? 80s weren't THAT cool...

Anonymous (June 2, 2003)

dont lie....u didnt even know about all american rejects b4 they gained main stream popularity......im not sure they even had an album out before hand (and i wont bother checking

Anonymous (June 2, 2003)

dude swin swing is the most musically complicated song ive heard in a while

Anonymous (May 31, 2003)

limbeck really are awesome guys. I saw them headline in the tiny kilby court in slc and they were extremely nice people who interacted with the crowd well.

example: at a Say Anything show [ another new doghouse band. ] about a year ago, Patrick [ guitar ] and Matt [ drums ] of limbeck decided to show, and once they realized that sayanything shows were infamous for having mary kate and ashley olsen there, they wrote a sign that was something along the lines of " wants picture with mary kate olsen, will do anything! god bless patrick from limbeck " he stood with it at the door of venue the entire night with this smirk on his face. hilarious. i regret not having a picture of it.

i will admit i listen to a lot of what other people consider pop shit (goodwill, blink, drive-thru,etc.) but i would not buy tickets to a pop-punk show for the simple fact that i can only listen to it as a guilty pleasure. i cant physically or mentally go to say a starting line show and start bouncing up and down. when it comes down to live shows, i need some fuckin ballsy-ass rock or even something with a core attached to the end of it pumpin thru those speakers; i have no mental capacity for otherwise.

on a side note, wakefield is horrible, the only thing worse than good charlotte is a good charlotte replication

FortyMinutesWest, did you want me to send you the money so you could get a ticket to the show? I'll just buy you an extra one next time and you can meet me there.

Honestly, I would go see any band once, just to see what they're like. I keep an open mind and while I never considered AAR to be anything more than decent, I thought they had talent based on their full-length. Besides, 10 bucks is nothing to pay to spend a night downtown hanging out with some friends. Even though the music was awful, I still had a good time. I'll definitely never go to see AAR or Wakefield again, Limbeck was pretty good, though.

-CaptainCrunch

Anonymous (May 30, 2003)

It is an actual Limbeck song and you can get it on their full length "This Chapter is Called Titles."

First off, Limbeck are great. They've just kind of hovered around for a few years, putting out a full length and a split with Homegrown that was awesome. They are just kind of...laid back. Download "Secret" and "Ruch Hour in Logtown" to hear for yourself.

Wakefield: no comment.

AAR: Now, They are from my my homestate. The first time I saw them, it was at a bar at the OSU campus, and they were a 2 piece. Just Tyson and Nick and a drum machine. Kind of cool. I see them a little while later in Oklahoma City at the Green Door, this time with a drummer, and opening for a popular local female fronted synth-rock band named Euclid Crash. They've ALWAYS used the samples with the bells and organs, it's been a big part of thier live show since the beggining, and it's good they can pull it off so tightly with samples playing. Anyways, that night, they were fun too watch. A poppy, 3 piece band with plenty of energy. Anyways, long story short, they got big, took Euclid Crash's guitarist (Mike) and got a different drummer, also of an OKC band called Leasing Nations. Euclid Crash broke up but is now back together. If you are interested in hearing the music Mike used to play, check out euclidcrash.com or get mp3's at euclidcrash.iuma.com, its a lot better than AAR...oh and for punk cred, Mike has like 2 or 3 Propaghandi tattoos, haha...